2012 Russell Martin Performance Thread

[BRNXBMRS]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees end up not feeling comfortable relying on Romine as a stop gap, given the back issues he keeps having. The concern was enough to get Stewart now; not sure they would want to let Martin go next year.

He is going to want buku $$.

[False1]

He is going to want buku $$.

Should be interesting. I love me some Martin, but let's not forget this is the same guy who wasn't even tendered an offer by the Dodgers prior to last season, didn't exactly ignite a bidding war in spite of both the Yankees and Red Sox looking to upgrade at catcher and the general shortage of good catchers in baseball, and also saw his OBP sink to a career low last season. Nice rebound in isop, but aside from that he's not radically different than he was two seasons ago. You could argue that he proved he can stay healthy last season, but you could also argue that he added mileage to that surgically repaired hip that might catch up to him.

I thought I saw a Heyman tweet that the Yankees were thinking along the lines of 3/$20MM, with Martin looking for more like $8MM-$10MM per season, prior to extension discussions getting tabled.

[StaleMilk]

He's putting up similar offensive numbers as Cervelli.

[awy]

pretty much the only issue here is health. with the yankees and with martin though, this is not a simple issue

[DJ27]

Should be interesting. I love me some Martin, but let's not forget this is the same guy who wasn't even tendered an offer by the Dodgers prior to last season, didn't exactly ignite a bidding war in spite of both the Yankees and Red Sox looking to upgrade at catcher and the general shortage of good catchers in baseball, and also saw his OBP sink to a career low last season. Nice rebound in isop, but aside from that he's not radically different than he was two seasons ago. You could argue that he proved he can stay healthy last season, but you could also argue that he added mileage to that surgically repaired hip that might catch up to him.

I thought I saw a Heyman tweet that the Yankees were thinking along the lines of 3/$20MM, with Martin looking for more like $8MM-$10MM per season, prior to extension discussions getting tabled.

No reason not to go 3/$25-27. At the end of that hopefully one of our young guys will be ready.

[EvanJ]

He leads the AL with 9 walks.

[ajra21]

Thought he had ten. Good patient nonetheless from Martin. He might not ever hit for average again, but he's not an easy out and can put it out when needed. Here's the question: given his defence is he a biter all around catcher than Jorge was at his peak?

[effdamets]

Thought he had ten. Good patient nonetheless from Martin. He might not ever hit for average again, but he's not an easy out and can put it out when needed. Here's the question: given his defence is he a biter all around catcher than Jorge was at his peak?

Wow - that's tuff... JoPo was always a MUCH better hitter, but his defense was always bad.
I think Martin is better for the pitching staff....
Difficult to call.

[Shadoux101]

Thought he had ten. Good patient nonetheless from Martin. He might not ever hit for average again, but he's not an easy out and can put it out when needed. Here's the question: given his defence is he a biter all around catcher than Jorge was at his peak?

Yes. Look at some of my past posts about his defensive value. His defense is more valuable than Cano's offense based on runs above replacement.

[YESSIR!]

Nice article on Russel with some good quotes from Cashman. I'd be very surprised if they didn't try hard to retain this guy past this season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...ankees-success

"The catcher is involved with everybody in the game, because he’s your field general," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "He’s going to control obviously every starter, all your relievers, he’s supposed to have the game plan in place, defensively he can hold the runner, he can block balls in the dirt, he can steal strikes by framing properly. There are a lot of different things that you need your catcher to do, plus you want him to hit in our league."

[ajra21]

Just found that article myself. The headline "Mr Reliable" sums him up pretty well. Getting him over the Red Sox was a big deal it though it might not have felt it at the time. Montero is gone, Romine is injured and Cervelli isn't a starter.

[Shadoux101]

His pitch framing is among the tops in the majors as well. Russell has saved 70 runs over the past 4 years from his pitch framing. Only Brian McCann has saved more runs via framing in that time period. Jose Molina is Godly in that regards, though. He saves just about as many runs framing pitches in less then half the playing time. If you were to average his numbers over the same playing time as McCann and Russell, Jose would be +150-+160 Runs saved.

To put that into perspective. Over the same time period. Robinson Cano is +68 runs above the average MLB Hitter. Troy Tulowitzki is +71 runs.

From a post of mine in February. ESPN is months behind.

[grizy]

[awy]

one would hope the yankees handle him with more care given his glass back. if they do i'd be way way more comfortable with a long term contract

[StaleMilk]

Nice article on Russel with some good quotes from Cashman. I'd be very surprised if they didn't try hard to retain this guy past this season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...ankees-success

Posada was a -59.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...rticleid=16096

[StaleMilk]

I want a catcher that can hit next year.

[NY Dude]

Don't look now, but Martin is hitting below the Mendoza Line.

[NoodleRay]

You can look up everyone of my post about Martin, I have only great things to say then and now. Saying this as I take a good deep look at our catchers, I see some pretty good talent/it seems to be our strong position.

We have this new kid Chris Stewart who has been pretty good, with his framing of pitches, and his throwing' he's got a very good arm. Also he's been able to hit a little bit kind of clutch so far, although we know how quick that can change.

So no one player can hold a gun to the Yankee front office head, not when it comes to catching! We have a small army of catchers, with Martin being the best with great power. Still he's not hitting as of yet, an I'm not sure but didn't he also have a repaired hip?

[sjanowsky]

Martin can certainly throw out runners, but one thing I have noticed that seems to have a bad impact on the pitchers that can hit their spots is that he sets up too far inside/outside. It will be (say) a 2-2 pitch and he sets up 5 inches outside and the pitch hits the glove and it is a ball. Perhaps that's where you set up 0-2, or for a pitcher likely to miss by a foot, but for the guys who can throw the ball where they want it just seems to run up pitch counts and give away the advantage of pitcher-friendly counts.

[MoVaughnEatsAlot]

I want a catcher that can hit next year.

Every team would like a catcher that could hit, but you take what you can get.

[False1]

Every team would like a catcher that could hit, but you take what you can get.

While true, and while I like Martin's game overall, the 71 sOPS+ ain't gonna cut it. Yankees are 11th out of 14 AL teams in sOPS+ from catchers currently. I expect Martin will improve offensively throughout the course of the season.

[nnysiny]

good thing he priced himself out on an extension over the offseason

[philleotardo]

We have this new kid Chris Stewart

Do you know he's a year older than Martin (30)?

[Shadoux101]

Martin can certainly throw out runners, but one thing I have noticed that seems to have a bad impact on the pitchers that can hit their spots is that he sets up too far inside/outside. It will be (say) a 2-2 pitch and he sets up 5 inches outside and the pitch hits the glove and it is a ball. Perhaps that's where you set up 0-2, or for a pitcher likely to miss by a foot, but for the guys who can throw the ball where they want it just seems to run up pitch counts and give away the advantage of pitcher-friendly counts.

Statistically proven to be one of the leagues best catchers in "framing". Read my previous posts in this thread alone about it.

[PirateChief]

Corpse party!